Twenty-eight Australian V8 teams tested Wednesday at Queensland Raceway, in preparation for the upcoming Armor All Gold Coast 600 races on the streets of Surfer’s Paradise in Queensland.
The weather was the usual – little of this and little of that. It was mostly sunny and warm, with some clouds coming and going, wind rising and falling, and even a feeble attempt at a spritz.
The twenty-eight teams had two drivers each – one being the regular V8 driver, and his co-driver being one of the 28 invited Guest or International drivers.
It was hard to tell if all 28 were present. The Timing & Scoring monitors listed one driver for each car, supposedly the driver in the car. But not all drivers had working transponders. The T&S sheet at the end of the day listed both drivers (except in a couple of cases where the International driver’s name was omitted, but not for the expected reason – last minute cancellation. The two missing drivers were definitely on site and had been listed since the get-go.
After Sunday’s horrific and ill-fated IndyCar race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, three already-scheduled drivers withdrew.
The late DAN WHELDON was paired with current V8 points champion and good friend, JAMES COURTNEY/No.1 Toll Holden Race Team. His seat will be taken by DARREN TURNER of England.
Australian driver, WILL POWER of Queensland, was injured in Sunday’s IndyCar race and has been replaced by RICHARD LYONS of North Ireland, who will race with MARK WINTERBOTTOM/No.5 Orrin Steel FPR Falcon.
TONY KANAAN, a close friend of the late DAN WHELDON, declined to race. His seat with JASON BARGWANNA/No.14 Jana Living Racing Holden has been filled by ALAN SIMONSEN of Denmark.
Two occasional IndyCar drivers – from France, SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS and this year’s Super Sub, SIMON PAGENAUD, didn’t race in Vegas and were at the Ipswich circuit Wednesday.
Three other (regular) IndyCar drivers flew in Wednesday morning and went straight to the track to test: RYAN BRISCOE of Australia/No.2 Toll Holden Racing Team, pairing with GARTH TANDER, who won last weekend’s big Bathurst race; HELIO CASTRONEVES, driving with TIM SLADE/No.47 Lucky 7 Racing Ford; and ALEX TAGLIANI with DAVID REYNOLDS/No.16 Stratco Racing Holden with Kelly Racing
Tagliani said ““I think today was very positive. We were down in America and with what happened over the weekend in Las Vegas, I think it was good for BRONTE (Tag’s Australian wife) to get away from the atmosphere down there and for me personally it’s kind of the same. As soon as you get back into a car and you’re in racing mode you don’t think that much and I think in this particular situation the less you think the better it is. I was quite happy that it turned out that as soon as we got off the plane we went straight to the track to go testing.”
All Tagliani has to do now is get his seat insert molded and practice driver changes.
Kelly Racing is running four cars at Surfer’s. A team spokesman said that because they were a young team, they brought in veteran TONY DOWE as a consultant for the Bathurst and Gold Coast races.
The other three Kelly cars/drivers are: RICK KELLY/No.15 Jack Daniel’s Holden with JORG BERGMEISTER of Germany; TODD KELLY/No.7 Jack Daniel’s Holden with RICHARD WESTBROOK of England; and GREG MURPHY/No.11 Pepsi Max Holden with OLIVER GAVIN of England.
Olly, as Gavin is known, has organized for all the BRDC (British Racing Driver’s Club) at Surfers to wear a special visor sticker and black armband in memory of fellow BRDC member, Wheldon.
Gain and Westbrook will pay tribute to Wheldon Thursday morning in pit lane. Joining them will be BRDC drivers MARINO FRANCHITTI, ANDY PRIAULX, and Turner, plus honorary BRDC members – Briscoe, GIL de FERRAN, and EMANUELE PIRRO.
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Doing a lot of practice pit stops and driver changes Wednesday afternoon was California driver, JOEY HAND, who is co-driving with JAMES MOFFAT/No.18 Jim Beam Racing. This was Hand’s first time in a V8 and he finds it a bit odd to shift with is left hand. He’s getting used to it, and it’s not as hard as he thought it would have been for the first time.
PATRICK LONG, also of California, raced in last year’s Surfer’s race and was the second highest-finishing International Driver. Sweet success, after the Australian weekly motorsports publication, Auto Action, ranked him last of the International drivers last year. This year AA has manned up to its mistake, and is leaving the rankings up to the drivers themselves, who ranked Long second, behind Priaulx.
Long, who is paired with FABIAN COULTHARD/No.61 Bundaberg Racing Holden, said he’s mastered the left hand shifting. But, he’s still getting used to the weight of the car. It doesn’t give as much feedback.
The V8’s run two colored lights in the lower left of their windows. The lower, green light indicates an International driver is in the car. The upper yellow light will be superfluous this weekend, as it indicates the driver is on Soft Tires. All the tires this weekend will be the Soft compound.
